


Cold Snap

by LilacNoctua



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Kissing, Background NaruSasu, Background NejiTen, Camping, Cuddling & Snuggling, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Mild Language, Oh no there's only one sleeping bag, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26917246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacNoctua/pseuds/LilacNoctua
Summary: “Better?” Lee asked.“Yeah. Thanks,” Gaara whispered. “I guess we’re going to be very close friends by the end of this night, huh?”“Are we not already very close?” Lee asked softly.Gaara hesitated, craning his head back to try to see Lee’s face but only found a vague silhouette outlined by the dying embers of the fire outside, unreadable.“Yes. I like to think we are.”A camping trip doesn't go quite as expected when Gaara forgets to bring one very important item.
Relationships: Gaara/Rock Lee
Comments: 28
Kudos: 130
Collections: GaaLee Bingo





	Cold Snap

**Author's Note:**

> This was written to fulfil the prompt "Camping Trip" for GaaLee Bingo, bonus card 2.  
> Special thanks to Sadface for beta reading and for being as supportive and encouraging as she always is.  
> Please be aware that this story contains mentions of alcohol and intoxication.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Temari asked for the tenth time that morning. She held up her phone so that Gaara could see the weather app, again. “The temperature up there is supposed to plummet overnight. They’re calling for frost, maybe even snow.”

“We’ll be fine,” Gaara insisted, stuffing a few last items into his pack. “It’s a one night camping trip with a whole bunch of people. I’m not hiking off into the middle of nowhere alone to die of exposure.”

He fastened the straps on his pack, deposited it next to the front door, and shuffled into the kitchen to find Kankuro, dressed in his pajamas and only one slipper, rifling through the cooler.

“That’s for the trip,” Gaara snapped, shutting the lid. “You’re not coming, so you get nothing.”

“I wanted to come,” Kankuro complained. “It’s not my fault I’ve got a show tonight.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright without us?” Temari asked again.

“I bet he’s looking forward to getting rid of us for the night,” Kankuro called, his head now buried in the back of the fridge. “I mean, considering his tent situation. . .”

“Shut up, Kankuro,” Gaara hissed.

“What tent situation?” Temari demanded.

“Oh, you haven’t heard?” Kankuro’s head popped up over the fridge door, eyebrows waggling. “Guess who’s got a two man tent and is willing to share?”

“Seriously?” Temari demanded, rounding on Gaara. “How long has that been going on? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Gaara muttered, glaring at Kankuro. “We’re just sharing his tent because I don’t have one. That’s all.”

“Boo!” Kankuro jeered, emerging finally from the fridge with a box of leftover pizza. “You coward!”

“Leave him be,” Temari snapped at him. “You know Gaara’s always been shy.”

“I’m not shy!” Gaara protested.

“No?” His sister smirked on him. “Is that why you’ve been making puppy dog eyes at Lee for years but have never said anything to him? Even though he’s obviously crazy about you.”

“He’s not - !” Gaara spluttered. “I don’t - !”

He was saved by a loud knock at the door.

“I’ll get that. You two, shut up.”

Gaara hurried to the end of the hall, and wrenched the door open to find Lee standing on the front steps, nearly bouncing with excitement. A bright green, mud splattered jeep was parked behind him at the curb.

“Good morning, Gaara!” He practically shouted. “It is finally time for our camping trip!”

“I’ve been looking forward to it,” Gaara told him, struggling to stop himself from mirroring Lee’s ridiculous grin. That seemed to be becoming more difficult all the time. “You can come in. I’m just getting the last of my things together.”

Lee practically bounded across the threshold. “Did you pack warm clothes? And a good, heavy sleeping bag? And a hat? And wool socks? What about long underwear? Those can save your life.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’ve got everything,” Gaara assured him quickly before Kankuro could happen by and hear Lee talking about Gaara’s underwear.

“You are not wearing that, right?” Lee said, gesturing first at Gaara’s sweatpants and old t-shirt and then at his own cargo pants and fleece sweater combo. 

“Of course not. I haven’t had time to change yet,” Gaara muttered, suddenly self-conscious.

“I will start loading your things up while you do!” Lee exclaimed. He snatched up Gaara’s pack and dashed back outside. 

Gaara traipsed into his room to put on jeans, a pair of thick wool socks, a t-shirt and a sweater that Kankuro had knitted for him with a big red heart on the front.    
Back in the kitchen, he found Temari questioning Lee about the trip.

“Do you have bear spray? And the emergency number for the rangers?” She demanded.

“Yes to both! I have also brought bells and an airhorn so we shouldn’t have any problems with bears as long as we are respectful of them and do not leave food lying around.” Lee assured her with a thumbs up.

“Fuck bear spray,” Kankuro guffawed with his mouth full of cold pizza. “Lee could take out a fucking grizzly with one punch.”

“There are no grizzlies here,” Lee told him, sounding confused. “We would have to go much further west.”

“No one is punching any bears,” Gaara interrupted, preventing Temari from launching into a lecture. 

Lee’s phone started ringing, blaring  _ Eye of the Tiger  _ at an obnoxious volume as he patted his many pockets trying to find it.

“Good morning, Neji!” Lee boomed into the phone. Gaara couldn’t make out what the sharp voice in the speaker was saying but Lee grimaced.

“Yes, yes. I am at his place now.”

Neji’s voice became even sharper, staccato.

“We are just about to leave,” Lee promised him. He smiled apologetically at Gaara as he hung up. “Sorry. Neji is  _ not  _ a morning person. We need to pick up him and Tenten before we drive north, and I promised him we could hit the Starbucks drive through so he could have a ‘last taste of civilization.’ He is getting a bit impatient.”

“I’m ready to go when you are.” Gaara shrugged.

“Great! I will take the cooler out to the car,” Lee told him. “Make sure you have not forgotten anything.”

“Nope, I’ve got everything, let’s go,” Gaara insisted. He was beginning to become alarmed by the looks his siblings were shooting at Lee anyway, grinning like a pair of wild dogs circling a fresh zebra carcass.

“Let me help you with that,” Kankuro offered, stepping forward as Lee reached for the cooler.

“Thank you, but I am fine!” Lee told him, lifting the cooler and settling it on one shoulder. Kankuro’s eyes went wide and Lee grinned at him, flashed another thumbs up. “It is a shame you two cannot come with us.”

“We’ll come next time,” Temari said.

Lee’s whole face lit up. “Winter camping!”

“Oh fuck no,” Kankuro grumbled. “We’ll come with you next summer.”

“I’d go winter camping,” Gaara said, just because Lee looked so deflated all the sudden. 

Lee perked up again immediately. “It will be so much fun!”

“Yeah, of course  _ you  _ would go,” Kankuro cackled. 

Gaara glared at him, but Lee was already hurrying out the door with the cooler. Gaara stopped in the hallway to pull on his hiking boots and grab an extra jacket. Outside, Lee was slamming the trunk of the jeep closed. Temari and Kankuro rushed out onto the steps to catch Gaara in an overly tight double hug.

“Baby brother, we’ll miss you!” Kankuro wailed theatrically.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving us.” Temari went so far as pretending to sniffle.

“If you’re trying to embarrass me, it won’t work,” Gaara whispered. 

“You can’t leave without your smooches!” Kankuro cried. Both of them began kissing his face, still exclaiming about how he was all grown up and going off on his own.

Gaara didn’t have the heart to tell them to get lost, even if Lee was standing on the front lawn, grinning and teary eyed. 

When they finally let go of him, he muttered a quick, “I’ll miss you too. See you tomorrow,” before hurrying across to the jeep. 

Gaara had always liked Lee’s jeep; the inside was comfortable and well worn, cosy and safe in a way Gaara didn’t quite know how to explain. Even during the day, it made him think of late night drives and falling asleep in the passenger seat. As Gaara climbed in, he noticed that a few strands of his own red hair still clung to the headrest, and the seat was still angled just the way he liked so he could lean back and look up through the sunroof with his feet on the dashboard. He didn’t know why something like that should make him so absurdly happy, but he found himself struggling to contain another ridiculous smile.

“I am so excited for this!” Lee exclaimed, once they were on the road. “This park is beautiful, and this is the best time of year for camping really, because there are fewer bugs and all the beautiful fall colours!”

“You’re not worried about the cold?” Gaara asked.

“Not at all!” Lee laughed. “We have all the right gear and I have camped in far worse weather than this. It is just a little cold snap! We will be perfectly warm, do not worry!”

He continued his stream of enthusiastic commentary until they arrived in front of an upscale condo building where Tenten, and a very grouchy Neji, climbed into the backseat. Good to his word, Lee did take them through the Starbucks drive through, and even managed to get Neji’s complicated coffee order right on the first try. Gaara’s black coffee was passed to him along with a warm smile and a pumpkin muffin he hadn’t asked for.

It was a three hour drive north, during which Tenten dragged Gaara into a game of I spy, and leaned into the front seat to punch Lee every time she saw a yellow car. Neji forced them to stop twice so that he could use a real bathroom “for the final time.”

They pulled into the rough gravel parking lot at the trailhead and found Sasuke and Naruto having some sort of argument.

“I swear they were here somewhere!” Naruto cried, digging through the bags in their trunk. “Where could they have gone?”

“For the last time,” Sasuke groaned, rubbing his temples. “You don’t need that much instant ramen for a two day camping trip.”

“So it was you!” Naruto shouted. “How could you do this to me, Sasuke? I’m gonna starve!” 

Sasuke tried to shoot Gaara a long suffering, exasperated look. Gaara only smirked at him.

A bright red hatchback roared into the lot, windows down, blaring upbeat pop music as loud as its speakers would go. Ino’s head popped out the window of the passenger side, blonde hair streaming, and shouted something incomprehensible as Sakura circled the lot so that she could skid to a stop next to Naruto’s car, taking up at least two parking spaces.

Sakura, Sai, Ino and Hinata all piled out. Hinata looked a tiny bit green and staggered over to Neji to lean on his shoulder, sucking down huge gulps of fresh air. 

“Kiba and Shino came up last night,” she told them, then giggled. “I got a series of angry texts early this morning about dogs in the tent.”

“Thank god,” Ino said. “There’s cell service at the campsite.”

Sakura rolled her eyes. “We’re supposed to be communing with nature.”

“I can commune with nature and Instagram at the same time,” Ino huffed.

“Alright, everyone!” Lee shouted. “It is only a short hike to the campsite! Get geared up and we will be on our way!”

“How long is this ‘short hike?’” Neji demanded. 

“Five kilometres west of here on the Hidden Leaf Trail,” Lee pulled out a map to show him.

“Five kilometres is a short hike normally,” Tenten pointed out. “But not with all this stuff.”

Lee waved her off. “Do not worry, Tenten! I will carry most of it! The rest of you can take it easy!”

“No way!” Naruto shrieked. “I’ll carry more than you will!”

“Oh sure, keep dreaming!” Sakura interrupted. “I’ll carry more than both of you combined. I’ll even carry Hinata if I have to!”

“I’ll walk, thanks,” Hinata murmured, shuffling closer to Neji.

Sasuke appeared at Gaara’s side. “This is going to be a very long weekend.”

“I think it will be fun,” Gaara told him.

“Tch. Of course  _ you  _ think it will be fun.”

Sai appeared at his other side. “Are we taking bets on who can carry the most stuff?”

“Don’t be stupid.” Sasuke gave him a scathing look. “It’s obviously Naruto.”

Sai snorted. “Not a chance. My money’s on Sakura.”

Gaara slipped out from between them to retrieve his pack from the back of the jeep. 

“Gaara, can you help me with this?” Lee was on one knee beside the jeep, struggling with the straps of the biggest backpack Gaara had ever seen. Gaara knelt down beside him to help get the pack balanced correctly, adjust the straps, and buckle it around his waist and across his chest.

“What is even in this thing?” 

“Oh, you know,” Lee seemed to try to shrug beneath the bulk of the pack. “All my clothes, some food, a tent, sleeping bag and mat, safety equipment, the camp stove and fuel in case we need it, that kind of stuff.”

“That’s a lot. Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

“Yeah, no problem!” Lee grinned and stood up. Gaara hadn’t realized that his hand had been resting on a fleece clad shoulder until the motion dislodged it and sent it brushing down over his chest. He took two steps back quickly, struggling to keep his face neutral.

Lee didn’t seem to notice. He turned and heaved the cooler out of the trunk. “Here we go, everyone! Our youthful camping trip begins now!”

Naruto barged past him and hurried toward the trailhead, balancing an overly large bundle of firewood in his arms. Sakura was carrying no less than five backpacks while Ino pranced along behind her carrying only her purse.

It was a gruelling hike, made somewhat worse by Lee and Naruto’s attempts to keep spirits up by singing. Gaara had never been so glad to hear Akamaru barking. 

“Hurry up and unpack,” Kiba called to them as soon as they came in sight. “There’s a really cool cave system you can hike through but the park staff close it off at sunset.”

“I would love to explore a cave!” Lee shouted, punching one fist into the air. “Come on, Gaara! If we work together, we can get this tent set up in no time!”

Lee had brought a state of the art backpacking tent, with carbon fibre poles that weighed next to nothing, and sides that seemed to be more mesh than anything else.

“Are you sure this is for two people?” Gaara asked sceptically as he staked down the rain fly.

“That is what it says on the bag,” Lee told him. “We might be a little cosy, but you do not take up much room, so I think we will be fine.”

Gaara was sure he could hear Sasuke snickering somewhere behind him.

“Of course,” Lee added quickly. “If you are not comfortable you do not have to share with me! I am sure there is space for you somewhere else and I will not be offended.”

No!” Gaara held up his hands and shook his head. “No, that’s not what I meant! I just don’t want to crowd you. I don’t want to make  _ you  _ uncomfortable.”

Yes, Sasuke and Sai were both definitely cackling. Gaara wasn’t sure how exactly everyone had figured out his feelings for Lee, and he was constantly anxious that one of them would slip up and tell him.

“Let’s move it,” Kiba shouted. “We haven’t got all day.”

“We will set up the rest of this when we come back,” Lee decided. He and Gaara tossed their packs into the tent and set off with the others up the trail

* * * * *

They returned to the campsite at sunset, ravenously hungry and bone weary from a long afternoon of hiking and kayaking. Sasuke was tasked with starting the campfire while Gaara helped Neji and Sai prepare a pizza in a heavy cast iron pan. Gaara was pretty sure he knew who had carried that here. At this point he was almost more impressed by the strength of the seams of Lee’s backpack than by the strength of Lee himself.

By the end of dinner, it had grown completely dark; their only source of light, other than the campfire, was a thin sickle moon and a dizzying array of stars. Gaara sat next to Lee on a log bench, close enough that he could feel his warmth through the sleeve of his jacket, but not so close that it would seem like he was leaning against him. He nursed a single can of cider, fingers marshmallow sticky against the aluminum, while Lee drank only tea. The rest of them were working through the beer stash rapidly.

“Kiba,” Naruto called out. “What kind of party is this? Give us some music!”

Kiba brought his guitar out of his tent and strummed out a few tunes. He sang them a love song that they soon realized was about a dog, and set them all laughing. He goaded Neji into singing a gut wrenchingly sad folk song, and then rounded on Gaara.

“I heard you sing at one of Kankuro’s performances last month,” he said.

“I was just standing in for another one of the actors,” Gaara protested, shrinking backwards as though Lee’s shoulder might hide him from the many pairs of eager eyes that turned his way.

“So? You still sounded good,” Kiba told him.

“Come on, Gaara!” Naruto shouted, very red in the face. “Sing!”

“I . . . don’t know very many songs,” Gaara tried again. 

Truthfully he could only remember one song at the moment. He had learned it specifically because the first time Lee had heard it on the radio, on a late night drive when Gaara couldn’t sleep, he had teared up and had to pull over. He didn’t want to sing that to everyone here; he had never even actually worked up the courage to sing it to Lee.

“This is basically just karaoke,” Neji pointed out. “We’re not expecting a five star performance, just start us off.”

The campfire crackled, the logs shifted and settled, spitting dancing sparks into the air. The wind rustled in the leaves of the trees, hummed softly in the sound box of Kiba’s guitar. He knew Lee was watching him, smiling, waiting. Gaara carefully kept his eyes on the toes of his boots as he began to sing.

It was a slow, soft song, much sappier than anything Gaara listened to normally, and he never would have given it a second thought if it weren’t for Lee. A few bars in, he was relieved when Kiba began strumming along with him. Even more relieved when the girls joined him for the second chorus, even if they were all a few beers in and a little off key. Less relieved when Naruto joined in as well and started making up his own lyrics. Beside him, Lee shifted, his shoulder pressed up against Gaara’s. His hand hovered in the air over Gaara’s for a moment before retreating back into his lap. Gaara’s voice faltered, the song ended in peels of laughter as Hinata toppled backwards off her bench struggling to hit a high note. 

Gaara turned to look at Lee and found him very close, looking back at Gaara with a strange, stricken expression on his face, tears sparkling at the corners of his eyes in the firelight. Gaara raised his hand, as though he intended to brush the tears away. Smoke billowed around them creating strange shadows in the dark. For a moment it seemed like they could have been the only two people there. Lee leaned towards him, just the tiniest bit closer.

“Gotta take a leak!” Naruto announced loudly, shattering the moment. He went crashing away into the woods. Lee and Gaara turned away from each other.

Gaara sat very still, his heart and his thoughts racing in tandem. He was sure he had just given himself away, confessed somehow. He needed to say something to Lee, but he wasn’t sure what; wasn’t even sure if he wanted to brush it off as nothing, or to make sure Lee understood completely. He started to reach for Lee’s hand.

A sudden ruckus of screaming and thrashing in the woods caused everyone at the campfire to bolt to their feet. Akamaru began barking frantically.

“Naruto!” Sasuke shouted.

“Why do these plants have thorns?” Naruto’s voice shrieked from somewhere in the darkness. 

“Are you okay?” Sasuke shouted back. 

“Sasuke, help me!” Naruto wailed. “I’m stuck!”

“Don’t move, you idiot! I’m coming!”

Sasuke switched on his flashlight and stomped away into the woods, muttering under his breath as he went.

“Well,” Neji declared. “I think I’ll call it a night.”

“Yeah, me too.” Tenten followed him into their tent, yawning. Sakura began rounding up the other girls, helping a very wobbly Hinata to her feet.

“Gaara!” Lee exclaimed, startling him. “We forgot to unpack all our stuff earlier while it was still light.”

Gaara grimaced. “This is going to be a pain. At least I packed everything I need for the night at the top of the bag.”

“Do not worry! I brought a lantern!” Lee led the way to their tiny tent and ducked inside, holding the flap open for Gaara. As soon as they stepped out of the circle of the campfire’s heat, and away from the warmth of each other’s bodies, the drop in temperature became obvious. They were both already shivering by the time Lee closed the zipper, sealing them in darkness, the firelight only just barely visible through the thin nylon wall. 

“Temari wasn’t kidding about that cold snap,” Gaara mumbled.

“We will be fine!” Lee assured him. “This tent is warmer than it looks.”

There was a rustling sound and then a lantern flared to life, illuminating the inside of the tent as Lee hung it from a plastic hook on the low ceiling. They each began unpacking their bags, laying out everything they would need for the night, inflating their sleeping mats. The problem quickly became evident.

Gaara took everything out of his pack, arranging it all in a neat row on the sleeping mat, then put it all back. He examined all the other gear in the tent, checked in the corners and even stuck his head back outside to check the vestibule.

“Lee,” he said slowly. “You haven’t seen my sleeping bag anywhere have you?”

“It was not in your pack?”

“No. It’s not anywhere in this tent.”

“That is not good,” Lee muttered. “I will go check the food bags to see if it ended up in there by accident.” 

He fished a headlamp out of his pack and ducked out of the tent flap. Gaara went through everything he had brought a second time. Still no sleeping bag.

“I am sorry. It is not there either,” Lee told him when he re-entered the tent, ample eyebrows drawn together in consternation, hands tucked under his biceps to keep warm. “Could we have left it in the jeep?”

“No, I checked the jeep twice before we left the parking lot so we wouldn’t have to make a trip back.” Gaara sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. He tried to visualize everything he had done that morning when he was packing, where he had put everything. The last time he had seen the sleeping bag, he had used it to bonk Kankuro over the head after he’d made a particularly unsavoury joke. Kankuro had snatched the sleeping bag out of his hand and thrown it at him. It had bounced off his face and fallen on the floor beside the bed. That was when Temari had come in and started pestering him about eating a protein rich breakfast and checking the weather forecast.

“It’s still in my room.” Gaara groaned. “I got distracted and it never even made it into my pack.”

“Maybe someone has a spare,” Lee suggested.

Gaara shook his head. “I doubt that. You’re the most overly prepared person here. If you haven’t got a spare, no one does. Don’t worry about it, I brought a lot of warm clothes and a heavy jacket. I’ll just layer up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Gaara assured him, wishing he felt as confident as he sounded. His fingertips were starting to go numb.

They gathered up their things and hurried down the trail to the washrooms to change. Gaara put on his long underwear, his fleece pajama pants, and then his jeans over top of that, along with every shirt and sweater he’d brought with him. He pulled his wool hat, also hand knitted by Kankuro, down over his ears and put on an extra pair of socks. He was still shivering violently by the time he and Lee returned to the tent. 

Lee turned the lamps off and Gaara curled up on his mat with his boots still on, his jacket draped over him like a blanket.

“Good night, Lee,” he whispered into the darkness.

“Good night.” Lee’s voice sounded apprehensive.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, as though it had somehow frozen too. Gaara tried to close his eyes, force his body to relax, but the cold felt like it was eating at him. The shivering just wouldn’t stop. He mentally ran through the inventory of his pack; he was already wearing everything that would hold in even a little bit of warmth. He tried curling himself into a smaller ball, wiggling his fingers and toes to improve circulation. Nothing made any difference. His only option was to wait for Lee to fall asleep, so as not to worry him, and then sit up through the night by the fire. He didn’t relish the idea of being the only one awake and outside in the middle of the woods, but he was no stranger to all-nighters and right now he would do just about anything in order to be warm.

“Hey, Gaara,” Lee whispered. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Gaara replied.

“I can hear your teeth chattering from here.”

“It’s just a bit chilly.”

There was a long silence, Lee didn’t even seem to be breathing, and then, very tentatively, “If you want, my sleeping bag can probably fit two people.”

Gaara’s entire thought process screeched to a halt.

“Only if you want to, of course,” Lee said when Gaara made no response. “Or I could just let you have the sleeping bag, I run warm anyway.”

“No!” Gaara said quickly. “You have to stay in the sleeping bag, it’s freezing out here. I just don’t want to be invading your personal space.”

“I do not mind at all,” Lee assured him. “I bought a very wide one because I like having the room to spread out when I sleep. I can share.”

“Okay,” Gaara breathed. Surely he had fallen asleep several minutes ago, surely this was only a dream. He sat up and took his boots off, set the jacket aside. Lee’s headlamp clicked on, and he undid the zipper of his sleeping bag. Gaara shuffled in next to him, taking far longer than he should have as he tried to avoid touching Lee any more than he considered polite.

Lee began to pull the zipper up again and then stopped. “Gaara, please do not take this the wrong way, but the transfer of body heat will be more efficient if you do not. . . if you were less. . . that is to say, well, if you did not have so many layers of clothing on.”

“Oh. I suppose you’re right about that,” Gaara whispered, trying desperately to keep his voice even. Lee lowered the zipper again and Gaara shuffled back out. He moved as quickly as he could, but was still painfully cold by the time he had stripped down to only his base layers and one pair of wool socks. This time he was far less careful as he practically threw himself back into the sleeping bag along with Lee.

Lee pulled the zipper up quickly and it was then that Gaara realized that Lee had his arms around him, was actually holding him.

“You are absolutely freezing!” Lee whispered loudly. He pulled Gaara as close to him as he could and began briskly rubbing his back and his arms to create friction.

“Thanks,” Gaara managed to mumble through his chattering teeth.

He wrapped one of his hands around the back of Lee’s neck, blissfully warm, almost scalding hot against his frozen skin. Lee tensed and hissed. “You fingers are like ice cubes!”

“I’m sorry,” Gaara whispered, letting go hastily.

“No, no, it is alright,” Lee assured him. “This will sound weird but try putting your hands in my armpits. They will warm up much more quickly.”

Gaara wedged each of his hands between Lee’s biceps and the firm edges of his pectoral muscles and clamped his teeth shut to stop himself from sighing aloud at the heat his numb fingers found there.

“Better?” Lee asked.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Gaara whispered. “I guess we’re going to be very close friends by the end of this night, huh?”

“Are we not already very close?” Lee asked softly.

Gaara hesitated, craning his head back to try to see Lee’s face but only found a vague silhouette outlined by the dying embers of the fire outside, unreadable.

“Yes. I like to think we are.”

“Me too.” Lee’s breath was warm against his lips. He couldn’t tell how far apart they were, but judging by the way their bodies were pressed together and entwined, there could be no more than the barest whisper of space between their faces.

“Lee, I -”

Whatever else Gaara may have been about to say was interrupted by a long, low, guttural groaning sound outside the tent. 

Gaara went very still, even his shivering stopped, eyes wide in the dark. “What was that?”

“I am not sure,” Lee said slowly.

“Do you think it could have been a bear?” Gaara was aware that he had pulled Lee closer to him, was practically clinging to him, but he couldn’t quite feel embarrassed about it. Lee was holding him just as tightly.

“It sounded like it could have been,” Lee whispered. They heard the groaning sound again. Lee let go of Gaara and sat up, sliding halfway out of the sleeping bag. “It sounded like it was coming from the direction of Naruto’s tent!”   
“Lee, what are you doing?” Gaara hissed.

“I cannot let a bear get Naruto!” Lee cried, rummaging through his pack for the bear spray. “Stay here.”

“You can’t go out there if there’s a bear,” Gaara insisted.

“But Naruto needs help!”

“I swear to  _ god, _ ” Sasuke’s angry voice shouted from across the campsite. “If you two don’t shut the  _ fuck  _ up. . .”

“Sasuke!” Lee called. “Is there a bear?”

“No, there is no fucking bear! It’s just Naruto.”

“I was, uh, snoring,” Naruto’s voice called back to them breathlessly. In the tent next door, the girls dissolved into peals of laughter. 

“You all disgust me,” Neji’s voice snapped.

“Shut up!” Sasuke snarled. “We’re trying to sleep.”

“Sleep!” Sai crowed. Kiba guffawed loudly.

Lee slid back into the sleeping bag next to Gaara, shuffling around until they were lying face to face again, wrapping him up in his arms.

“Sorry,” he whispered, still chuckling. “Did you get cold again?”

Gaara snorted. “I really thought Naruto was in trouble for a moment there.”

Lee started giggling all over again. “So did I.”

Gaara buried his face in Lee’s warm, wool clad shoulder to muffle his laughter. Lee’s body shook against his.

“Were you really going to rush out there to save Naruto from the bear?” Gaara asked once he could stop laughing.

He felt Lee shrug slightly. “If there had been a real bear, then yes, I would have had to.”

“That’s very heroic of you,” Gaara whispered.

Lee’s breath fanned across his face in a short huff of a laugh. He shrugged again, somehow managing to snuggle Gaara closer in the process.

“This is kind of nice,” Lee said tentatively after an interval of silence.

“Yeah,” Gaara sighed in agreement. “It is. Thank you.”

“Any time,” Lee whispered. Gaara could have sworn that Lee’s lips brushed lightly against the edge of his hat as he spoke. He wondered if Lee really meant that, but he didn’t quite have the courage to ask. 

Lee yawned loudly and his jaw cracked. Gaara caught the yawn, stifling it unthinkingly against the collar of Lee’s shirt. 

“Good night, Gaara,” Lee whispered. One of his hands began rubbing slow, soothing circles between Gaara’s shoulder blades.

“Sweet dreams,” Gaara whispered back, tucking his head into the space beneath Lee’s chin. 

“They will be.”

Later, Gaara would be able to blame all this on a frozen night in the wilderness. There was no need to overthink it now. For now, he was warm and comfortable, and if he tried not to think too much about the cuddling, this was hardly different than falling asleep in Lee’s car.

He let his body relax against Lee’s, breathing in time with him. The stroking hand against his back slowed and then stopped. Gaara sighed and nuzzled a little closer to Lee. He smelled of campfire smoke and pine trees, and was so impossibly warm. His merino pullover was soft against Gaara’s cheek and Lee’s thigh was a solid, comforting weight between his knees. 

The wind in the trees sighed and abated for a moment, some small night creature rustled among the fallen leaves. With a crack, and a gentle whoosh, the last burning log of the abandoned campfire crumbled and settled among the still glowing embers.

Lee’s breathing was slow and even, chest rising and falling against Gaara’s, sinking deeper into sleep. Or at least, so Gaara thought, right up until Lee’s head tipped down and a pair of soft, cool lips pressed gently but undeniably against his forehead, just above his left eye.

Gaara didn’t dare move, his heart tripping over itself in his chest, as Lee leaned his cheek against the side of Gaara’s head and sighed.

It took Gaara some time to gather up his courage, but he leaned back and placed a feather light kiss against the tip of Lee’s nose, cold against his lips.

As he pulled away, Lee turned his head and his lips brushed across Gaara’s; barely a kiss, but it felt deliberate. Gaara held his breath, struggling to see Lee’s face in the pitch black of the tent. Lee shifted and Gaara caught the briefest shimmer of an eye, a tooth. Definitely awake, definitely on purpose. Gaara leaned in again, before he could lose his nerve and kissed him quickly. Between the darkness and his rattled nerves, he missed, getting the bottom edge of his lip and his chin instead of his mouth, but he felt Lee smile as he pulled away. And then Lee was pressing a clumsy, fleeting kiss against the corner of Gaara’s mouth, already gone before Gaara could turn his head. Gaara tried to kiss him again, but his lips met only the bare teeth of Lee’s wide, ridiculous grin. 

Lee spluttered out an embarrassed laugh and Gaara snorted. Lee buried his face in Gaara’s shoulder and hugged him tightly, nearly trembling as he tried to hold back his laughter. Gaara made no such attempt and before he knew it, they were both giggling helplessly. Lee was squeezing him so tightly he could hardly breathe and for some reason that only made him more giddy, made him want to laugh harder. Lee had kissed him. He had kissed Lee.

“Oh my god, will you two shut up already!” Sasuke’s voice echoed across the campsite. “You’re so fucking annoying.”

Lee pressed his face hard into the side of Gaara’s neck, taking deep breaths to try to get his laughter under control. Gaara couldn’t stop himself from smiling any longer, grinning like a fool in the dark until he was sure his face would crack in two. He stroked his hands up and down Lee’s back, twined them into his hair beneath his hat, every bit as silky soft as he had imagined it would be. 

Lee’s strangled laughter cut off abruptly, he inhaled sharply, and then his lips were on Gaara’s again, this time not missing their mark. Gaara kissed him back as though his life depended on it, pouring into that kiss all the longing of a crush nursed in secret over the course of many years, all the relief of suddenly finding that his feelings were returned, his elated disbelief that this was real. Lee drank it all in, gave it all back, along with a sweet edge of passion that Gaara wanted to chase through to the very core of him. Within the shelter of the sleeping bag, the unyielding embrace of Lee’s arms, Gaara’s blood suddenly ran too hot within his veins, his skin molten in all the places it touched Lee’s.

Too soon, Lee pulled away, and when Gaara tried to kiss him one more time, he found him grinning again. They didn’t speak, instead they traded kisses back and forth in the dark, giddy, all hot breath and cool hands. Before long, yawns interrupted their kisses, and their touches grew softer and clumsier, until they fell asleep together just like that, nose to nose.

* * * * *

It was the heat and a desperate thirst that woke Gaara. His eyelids were too heavy, melted shut, and it was a great effort to pry them open. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut again to block out the blinding light, and groaned. The mass of damp heat against his back shifted and sighed.

“Ngh, sorry,” Lee mumbled, his voice hoarse as though his throat was as parched as Gaara’s felt. “I forgot how hot it gets in here when the sun rises.”

Gaara managed to gather his senses enough to unzip the sleeping bag and roll out. With heavy hands, he pulled his jeans on over his sweaty baselayers, jammed his boots onto his feet and lurched out of the tent. He gulped down the cool morning air, heavenly against his clammy, fevered skin, and watched the mist swirl over the lake. Lee stumbled out of the tent after him, pushing his hair off his sticky forehead and plucking at the front of his shirt to allow air to flow through it.

Gaara turned to look at him and smiled tentatively. Lee’s smile was just as uncertain, and he ducked his head, almost shyly. In the bright light of morning, it was too easy to believe that last night had only been a dream. 

“I will start a fire,” he said quietly. “I am sure you would like a coffee.”

“I would love that,” Gaara whispered. He set about helping Lee pile fresh firewood over the burnt out ashes of last night’s fire, wracking his brains for the right words to say. It wasn’t like it was a secret anymore, there was no reason for him to be so nervous. But a tiny voice in the back of his mind was whispering to him that Lee hadn’t meant it the same way he had; it had been only a one time, meaningless thing, brought on by darkness and proximity, nothing more. So every time he tried to say something to Lee, he choked, and remained silent. Lee’s eyebrows were drawn together, frowning at the case of matches as though it was a puzzle he had been unable to solve.

“Did I hear someone say coffee?” Sakura demanded, stomping out of her tent and striding over to plop herself down directly beside Lee and prod at his shoulder. “Hurry it up. Ino-pig kept me up all night with her snoring.”

“I did not!” Ino shrieked emerging from the tent as well. “I do not snore!”

One by one their friends woke up and joined them by the campfire. The morning passed in a blur of excited chatter and activity. There always seemed to be several people in between Lee and Gaara and no time for them to talk. Several times Gaara looked up to find Lee watching him, but he would always blush and turn away when Gaara caught his eye. Among the mayhem of their friends packing up camp, they dismantled their tent in silence. Once or twice Lee opened his mouth as though to say something, but then always found some task that needed his urgent attention.

On the hike back to the parking lot, Lee not only tried to carry more gear than either Naruto or Sakura again, but challenged them to a race as well. Gaara was left to make the walk back in contemplative silence, ignoring the curious looks Sasuke was shooting his way. He replayed the events of last night in his mind’s eye, his heart racing at the very memory of the way Lee had kissed him, trying to ascertain where exactly he had misinterpreted his intentions. By the time Gaara climbed into the passenger seat of the jeep, his stomach had tied itself into anxious knots.

“Thank you for offering me a ride, Lee,” Hinata was saying as she slid into the back seat between Tenten and Neji. “I love Sakura, but her car is too. . .”

“Sakura drives like a maniac, it’s okay, we know,” Neji cut in.

So this was it then. Hinata’s house was past his, she would be the last one dropped off. Lee was avoiding him.

Gaara spent the entire drive staring out the window, ignoring Tenten and Lee’s chatter, struggling to compose some set of words that would allow him to explain himself to Lee. He desperately wished that he had said something last night in the tent. Even if it had led to rejection, at least then he would know.

Shortly after they had passed the signs for the city limit, Neji leaned forward from the back seat. “Hinata’s staying with us tonight. Would you two like to join us for take out and a movie.”

“Enjoying the great indoors,” Tenten snorted.

Gaara’s heart was suddenly doing double time again. 

“I will pass this time, but thank you,” Lee said quietly. “I am just a little tired.”

His eyes slid towards Gaara before snapping back to the road.

“I’ll have to pass too,” Gaara said, careful to keep his voice neutral. “I, um, have something I need to do.”

The three back seat passengers jumped out of the car outside of Neji’s condo, waving and calling out goodbyes. Lee steered back onto the main road, towards Gaara’s house. Gaara watched him frowning and chewing his lip, hands fidgeting on the steering wheel, full of restless anxious energy. He hesitated for only a moment before reaching out and letting his hand settle on Lee’s knee. Lee startled slightly, turning to give Gaara a questioning look before remembering that he needed to watch where he was going. Gaara moved to draw his hand back but Lee took one hand off the steering wheel and placed it over Gaara’s, holding it there.

“Is this okay?” Gaara asked.

“Yeah. This is nice.” Lee didn’t take his eyes off the road again, but all his attention seemed focused on Gaara as though he were looking right at him.

“I wasn’t sure if. . .”

“You know it was not just because you were cold, right?” Lee said softly.

“No,” Gaara whispered. “It definitely wasn’t just because I was cold.”

Lee squeezed his hand. Gaara couldn’t help but grin at him. “You didn’t take my sleeping bag out of my pack on purpose, did you?”

“I would never!” Lee cried, hitting the brakes just a little too hard. Gaara only just then realized that they had pulled up in front of his house.

“No, I know,” Gaara told him, still smiling. Gaara unbuckled his seat belt and climbed across the centre console into Lee’s lap to kiss him again. He didn’t care about the seat belt buckle digging into his knee or the steering wheel pressed uncomfortably against his spine. The only thing he thought about was Lee. Lee’s mouth, and Lee’s hands on his hips, and Lee’s beautiful, impossible warmth. He tried to pull Lee closer and his knee slipped out from under him, his elbow jammed into the centre of the steering wheel. The jeep’s horn blared.

Lee and Gaara startled apart. Temari and Kankuro’s faces appeared in the living room window like meerkats popping out of their dens.

“So,” Lee asked breathlessly. “Does winter camping still sound like fun?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I always love hearing from readers and you can find me on [tumblr](https://lilac-writes.tumblr.com/) if you'd like to say hello.


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